July 14 marks the beginning of the Global Week of Inclusion, a week that marks the founding of Special Olympics.
And to celebrate the Global Week of Inclusion, Special Olympics and Nike have announced a new three-year global partnership.
Nike has already supported Special Olympics Oregon and, most recently, Special Olympics Berlin. Now, the two will look to increase access to youth sports around the globe.
According to a press release, the partnership will concentrate on four key communities: Oregon, Berlin, Johannesburg, and Tokyo. Nike will engage its employees as volunteers in all four communities as a key element of the partnership.
“As a company founded by a coach and an athlete, we know that the role of a coach can be transformational and we are thrilled to expand our long-time commitment to Special Olympics with this global partnership to highlight the role coaches have to positively shape the youth sport experience,” said Vanessa Garcia-Brito, VP and Chief Impact Officer, of Nike. “With Special Olympics, we’re expanding access to youth sport for more young people all around the world – so all youth have an opportunity to achieve their greatest potential.”
Throughout the three-year partnership, Nike and Special Olympics will collaborate on updating Special Olympics’ Global Unified Sports Coach courses and train-the-trainer materials. They will also work to recruit more Unified Sports coaches to more closely reflect demographics, with the aim of training and certifying more than 600 additional volunteer coaches. They also want to create more opportunities for young women and girls to access Unified Sports.
Special Olympics Unified Sports is the Special Olympics program where athletes with and without intellectual disabilities play together on the same team. This partnership is delivered through Special Olympics Unified Champion Schools (UCS).
“This partnership reflects our shared belief that everyone is an athlete, and has the potential to achieve their best, and to be brave. Together, we’re not only raising the bar for coaches’ education and making sports more inclusive for all — we’re showing the world that when we Play Unified, we change mindsets, we change communities, and in the deepest way, we can change lives, including our own,” said David Evangelista, the newly-named incoming CEO of Special Olympics.
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